Complete structure of HIV's outer shell revealed

London, Jan 20 (ANI): Scientists have determined the structure of the protein package that delivers the genetic material of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to human cells.

The study was carried out by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Virginia.

The work is the culmination of studies carried out over the last decade looking at different portions of the cone-shaped container, or the capsid. The final piece of the puzzle details the structure of the two ends of the cone.

A detailed description of the complete HIV capsid will provide a roadmap for developing drugs that can disrupt its formation and thus prevent infection by HIV.

HIV binds to receptors on human cells and then delivers the capsid inside them. Once inside a cell, the capsid comes apart, releasing its precious cargo-the virus's genetic material.

HIV then sabotages the cell machinery to make many copies of its genes and proteins. As new viruses are made, the genetic material is packaged into spherical immature capsids that HIV uses to escape from the infected cell. But before these newly released viruses can infect other cells, the immature capsid undergoes a dramatic rearrangement to form the mature, cone-shaped shell.

If formation of the mature capsid is disrupted, the virus is no longer infectious. Thus, new drugs targeting capsid formation could provide valuable additions to the arsenal of existing drugs against HIV.

"This paper is a real milestone for research from our group," said the study's senior author Mark Yeager, a Scripps Research professor and staff cardiologist and chair of the Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics Department at The University of Virginia School of Medicine.